Alone in the police lock-up, John (not his real name) was angry and disappointed with himself. He was also upset that his friend had betrayed him to the police.

Consumed by a tumult of emotions, he gouged out his right eyeball with his bare hands.

John, 35, told The New Paper: "My parents gave me two eyes when I was born. I asked myself again and again, 'Why do I keep looking at the wrong things? Why do I keep making the wrong friends?'" He was rushed to hospital, but his eyeball could not be saved.

That was in 2005. Today, the slightly built man wears a prosthetic eye and spectacles to shield his good eye from the glare of the sun's rays. His has been a life marred by petty crime, regrettable decisions and major illnesses.

At 21, he was diagnosed with cancer, which later went into remission.

But just when he thought he had cheated death, he found out he had contracted the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which causes Aids.

John cannot be identified as he is a HIV patient.

Since he was 19, John has been in and out of prison for mostly theft-related offences.

Last Friday, he was back in court where he was convicted of one count each of theft and forgery.

In a rare show of judicial mercy, the court sentenced him to a token one day's jail.

A memo by John's doctor, dated March 25, stated that he has between a few months and two years left to live.

Dr David Lye, a consultant at Tan Tock Seng Hospital's Department of Infectious Diseases, who has treated John for many years, wrote: "His CO4 count (a measure of his immune system) is 31 (5 per cent) on Feb 10, 2010. This indicates advanced HIV/Aids with poor prognosis of a few months to one to two years."

John's parents are divorced and he lives alone in a one-room rental flat in the Outram area.

Jobless

He survives on public assistance of $360 a month as he has been unable to find a job since being diagnosed with HIV.

Before that, he did various jobs, doing stints as a hawker stall assistant, a key-maker and a factory worker.

With only primary school education, he worked as a junior cook at a Korean restaurant for three months after his release from the Reformative Training Centre (RTC) for theft and dishonestly receiving stolen property. He was then 21.

He wanted to turn over a new leaf, he said, but soon after his release, he was diagnosed with stage two Hodgkins lymphoma, a cancer affecting the lymphatic system.

He had seen a doctor for insomnia. During the check-up, the doctor discovered a lump on his neck and referred him to a specialist.

His father spent $40,000 on his year-long chemotherapy.

But he completed only five out of the six rounds of treatment as he could not bear the pain.

He said: "I was in a blur. I didn't know night from day. I lost almost all my hair from chemotherapy and my girlfriend left me."

The young man fell into depression and swung to the other extreme, leading life with wild abandon.

"I just drank what I wanted, ate what I wanted, and had fun doing whatever I wanted because I didn't know if I would ever get to do it again," he said.

He went to Tanjung Balai and Tanjung Pinang in Indonesia every month. He and his friends partied at discotheques, took Ecstasy and visited prostitutes.

On one trip in 2000, a friend dared him to get a tattoo.

John had a tattoo of a demon done on his calf and another of a dragon and a fish covering his entire back.

They took a week to complete and were done by a freelancer who went to their hotel room.

The tattoo needle was unsterilised and shared between John, his brother-in-law and three Indonesian karaoke hostesses. All of them had tattoos done.

John believes that was how he contracted HIV.

He doubts it was through sex with prostitutes because he had used condoms.

Three years after getting the tattoos, doctors discovered a growth in his right armpit during a medical check-up and asked him to take a HIV test. The results were positive.

At first, he didn't dare to tell anyone about his condition. For three months, he spent sleepless nights struggling over whether to confess. Eventually he did.

"I told my brother-in-law because I didn't want it to affect my younger sister. I have only one sister and she has a young son," he said.

But his brother-in-law did not go for a HIV test and till now believes that he is HIV-free.

John's parents know about his illness, but his friends are still in the dark.

"I don't have the courage to tell them about myself. I only tell them to go for check-ups just in case," he said.

Source: news.asiaone.com & appleactionnews @youtube.com

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When you kiss someone for a minute, you both burn about 2.6 calories.

According to that math, it would take about an hour of kissing to burn 156 calories. A person who runs for 45 at a 10mph pace burns 538 calories. Which one would you rather do?